Puthujjhana,
How can the part of the conclusion ‘..whether truthfully’ still stand?
It is no offence for an Ariya layman to declare to lay people, how is it an offence for an Ariya Bhikkhu?
(It is of course understood that the ground of the declaration has to be one of compassion and total altruism while teaching Dhamma, with not a trace of selfish concern as to perceived respectability and so on.)
with Metta